New World
by Oh-my-darling-Clementine
Summary: Katherine Waters was on holiday from Ireland with her family, when the whole world went to hell, she met up with Daryl and Merle Dixon a few days after the incident, the three of them have been through tough times together and there's only more to come in this new world.
1. Chapter 1

"Do you think we'll be safe in here?" I whispered to Merle and Daryl, as we made our way through the thresh hold of the house, through the back door, since neither Daryl or Merle could open the front door by themselves or together, a thick layer of dust clouded around our feet as we made our way through the empty house, I must admit, it was pretty damn quiet-for a world gone to hell that is.

I however still had my hunting knife clenched in my hand tightly as I peeped around the corner of the kitchen door to get a better look "the hell if I know" Daryl mumbled quietly, as he walked passed me, keeping his cross-bow raised as he slowly shuffled down the hallway, kicking up more dust, I sneezed and coughed a little, the dust tickling the back of my throat and nose, Daryl checked each room as he went passed them "we'll be safe 'ere for a while, not sure for how long though" Merle replied, his gruff voice and heavy foot steps broke the silence that had fallen on the already dead quiet house.

The floor boards creaked under our feet, as we moved around, the windows were barricaded by wooden planks that were nailed down over the window frames, that didn't let much light for any of us to see through, but we were use to this by now; running and hiding in dark places that offered little to no light, just so we could survive in this new, horror filled world, not that our old one was much better, but I did prefer it more than this.

The front door was blocked by the fridge that had been pulled out from the kitchen "well, that explains why we couldn't get through the front fucking door" I said, jabbing my thumb in the direction of the fridge, the fridge had left drag marks along the wooden floor and ripped some of the plaster and wallpaper from the walls, where the previous owners, seemed as if they were in a hurry to block the front door up, from the outside world, which to be perfectly honest, I'm not at all surprised because I would have been in a hurry to block any entrance to my house if the dead got up and started chewing on people's flesh, the door of the fridge was laying on the floor in front of it, all rusted and dented with dried blood stains smudging the surface, the fridge had dents on the side of it with something sharp sticking through it.

Merle and I moved into the kitchen swiftly with our backs together, we both raised our weapons and then lowered them again when we didn't see any walkers stumbling or shambling about the kitchen, it was a medium sized kitchen, big enough for a small family of maybe three or four people and possibly a pet, the windows were broken and boarded up with a couple bits of wood that didn't look as if they were going to hold for much longer, than they already have.

The place where the fridge was had a walker pinned to the wall by it's head with an axe, the words 'I'm sorry for what you have became' written in it's own blood above it's head, in an arched shape, I walked over to the first cupboard and pulled it open, Merle came up beside me and sighed, placing a heavy hand on my shoulder "no food, huh?" he asked and then continued before I could say anything "we ain't gonna find any food in this house", I turned around and looked at him, giving him a pointed look "what makes you think that? We've only looked in one cupboard, there's probably some food in one of these" I replied and only got a throaty grunt back in return and a hard slap on the shoulder, I shrugged my shoulders and mumbled a quiet "hopefully" before I closed the cupboard doors again.

Daryl stood in the door way, with his back to us and his cross-bow still raised "I don't see no damn walkers, in this house" Daryl said to us, in a more normal tone of voice, well a some what normal tone of voice, he still didn't want to alert any walkers that were in close proximity to the house "that's good" Merle and I muttered at the same time, pulling open the cupboards doors "ah, look at what we got 'ere then boys n girls" Merle said, whistling through his teeth to get our attention, Daryl whipped his head around to look over is shoulder for a second and grunted "that ain't gon' feed the three of us Merle" Daryl put his cross-bow over his shoulder and looked at us, Merle scratched his head and turned the tin around in his hand "I think, there's enough food in this tin for the three of us, I mean if we all want a small bit of food that is" he replied, which just made his brother shake his head Daryl leaned against the door frame with his back, moving his bow out of the way so it didn't dig uncomfortably into his back.

"No, Daryl's right, Merle, that tin of whatever it is" I gestured my hand to the tin that he was holding, my nose scrunched up "it just won't feed the three of us, I mean...yeah it might feed two of us, but I don't really know if we should go hunting or not, I mean there's a lot of these walkers around this place...and that food might have gone off, by now" I said brushed a bit of my Auburn hair out of my eyes "but we still have the rest of the house to check yet" I continued "we might find some medicine, bandages and stuff for cuts" I leaned my back against the counter, keeping a hold of my hunting knife as I watched Merle look around the rest of the cupboards for any more food, but coming up empty, which isn't really any new news at the moment, seeing as most people got the idea to ransack all of the homes, in this place, it might be a little easier when get further away from this place "might 'ave to go huntin', then lil brother" Merle said to Daryl who had crossed his arms over his chest as if to say 'no'.

"Didn't you hear me? I said no ones going hunting any time soon, Merle" I said harshly and pushed myself off the side of the counter "no, you said that you don't think it's a good idea to go huntin' darlin'" Merle replied rolling his eyes at me "she's right ya know Merle, we gotta check the rest of the house first anyway" Daryl stated, Moving away from the door frame as I walked out of the kitchen, leaving Merle standing in the kitchen staring after me, Daryl gestured his hand over to the stairs that lead to the top floor, of the house "fine then, we'll check around the stupid house first" Merle grumbled, picking up the tin can that had dents and rust all over it, clearly unsatisfied that Daryl isn't going hunting any time soon.

Daryl lead the way up the stairs, his cross-bow was raised once again, his shoulders were slightly hunched as he made his way up the stairs, I was in the middle of Daryl and Merle, my hunting knife as clenched in my pale hand while my other hand was on the railing of the stairs, bunching dust up against the crook of my thumb and forefinger, Merle was walking up the stairs behind me, holding the tin and a led-pipe in his hands.

Once we reached the landing Daryl turned towards me and Merle "okay, Merle will check the to back bedrooms at the end of this hallway" he pointed down the hallway with his hand "I'll check these two that are behind me and you kitten, you can check the bathroom" he said in his usual calm voice "if there's any walkers around give us a call the two of us will come runnin'" he added at the end, sending me a look.

I nodded my head in confirmation, since I find it easier to take order from the youngest Dixon brother, not that I minded when Merle asked me to do something, it's just that most of the time Merle didn't really think about what he said before he said it and that can actually get us into more trouble than we're worth "whatever ya say, lil brother" Merle replied, I rolled my eyes and slapped the back of my hand against Merle's broad chest, which had stopped him from taking a step forward, he placed his hand over mine and I turned my head and glared at him "hey, don't even think about starting a fucking argument, Merle" I warned him before I walked off towards the bathroom, without waiting for a response, with a smile on my face, acting as if I hadn't said anything to him, because to be frank, I wasn't in the mood for any more of Merle's attitude.

I could hear Merle and Daryl's heavy foot falls, as they walked along the creaky floorboards of the landing along with a few hushed whispers that were exchanged between the two Dixon brothers, which was probably about me, I sighed and stopped out side of the bathroom door, it had a bloody hand stain on the front of it, as well as a few dried blood splatters, the door had nail marks over the front of it, like someone was trying to get away from something, and I knew all too well what that 'something' was, I closed my eyes for a minute and took a deep breathe in before I opened them again, I gripped the round glass door handle in my hand and twisted it, slowly pushing the door open, I took a cautious step inside, reaching out to the light switch, I pressed the button a couple of times before I came to the conclusion that the light doesn't work any more, not that it really mattered, I could still see everything, just fine as it was, everything was all just a little bit gloomy without proper lighting.

'heh, seems fitting, a gloomy place, for a gloomy world' I thought to myself.

I had raised my hunting knife level with my head, I walked over to the bath, that had a red and blue shower curtain, with orange and green dots all over it pulled all the way around the bath it's self, slowly and steadily, as I stopped in front of the shower curtain I could hear the buzz of flies and then suddenly the powerful odor of whatever was rotting in the bathtub hit me and I felt sick to my stomach, I reached out and gripped the shower curtain in my shaking hand and pulled it back, so quickly, you would have thought I was pulling a plaster off of a cut or something.

Laying down in the bath there was a corpse of a very small child, I couldn't really tell how old the child was, but from where I was stood it looked like a 5 year old, it had a hole through it's head, exposing the child's brain, well what was left of it that is, the skin was falling off of the bone, maggots and flies were crawling and wiggling their way over and through the body, eating whatever skin they can, the bath was filled with the child's blood, some of it was dried and some wasn't, I turned around and gagged, bending over, I placed my shaking hands on my knees, I feeling as if I was going to be sick, but after a while nothing came up and yelled weakly out to the brothers "the bathroom's, all clear", "clear" the two brothers yelled back at me. I stood up and walked over to the medicine cabinet, looking in the mirror, I ran a grubby, yet still shaky hand over my dirty face, with a sigh I pulled open the cabinets doors.

There wasn't really much stuff left in there, just a couple of bandages that hadn't been opened, a bottle of shampoo and shower gel, some disinfectant for wounds, two little boxes of tablets that have probably gone passed their expiration date, but hey, if we need medicine we need medicine and there's no way in hell would we be able to find medicine that isn't out of date yet, I mean some people don't even check them so, who knows really?, there was a couple plastic boxes that had a bunch of surgical wire and needles in, these plastic boxes were dotted on different shelves of the cabinet.

I pulled my black bag off of my shoulders and placed it in the sink, I undone the links that was keeping it closed and squashed the spare clothes I had packed for winter, down to the very bottom of the bag, stuffing the disinfectant and plastic boxes, bandages and the tablets on top of the clothes, I hesitated for a few seconds, before deciding that one day we will, have an actual need for the shampoo and shower gel, I figured we can't exactly stay like this forever, caked in walker blood and mud, at least not until we can find somewhere to have a wash or something, I really missed having a boiling hot, relaxing shower, well that and the internet, so I quickly put the bottles in the bag and done it up again.

I picked the bag up out of the sink and held it in my left hand, I turned the taps on and waited for a few seconds, hoping for what seems like a miracle as of late, when it comes to water or electricity, I sighed and leaned against the sink for a bit "I need somewhere, where I can have a wash or something, I smell like god damn fucking road-kill, that's been out in the sun for way too long" I muttered to my reflection, rubbing my forehead "and I need sleep, a lot of sleep, sleep would be good round about now, I could sleep for like, three years if it was at all possible" I said to my reflection again, a yawn escaping my lips.  
"Hey Daryl, Merle, there wasn't much in the bathroom, just a couple of medical things and a bottle of shampoo and shower gel, nothing too fancy, you know as always...also there was a..a um...dead child in the bath, it kind of makes me want to never see something like that again, what did you two find?" I told them as I walked out of the bathroom, holding the handles of my bag in my left hand "I ain't found nothin' in this house" Daryl replied as I rounded the corner and bumped into his chest, he reached a hand out to steady me so I didn't fall over "ah, sorry Daryl, I didn't mean to walk into you" I muttered.

The images of the child in the bath, flashed through my mind, I stood there, quietly, just letting the images float through my head and then, the images turned into the images of my younger sister, running to the bathroom in the hotel, screaming as someone, ripped into our fathers skin as he pushed the guy out of our hotel room, she was curled up in the bath, just like the five year old, crying and asking what's going to happen to our dad and just didn't have an answer for her, because come on, who actually knew what was going to happen, when this whole thing started?.

"Hey, everythin' alright Kat?" Daryl asked, breaking me out of my thoughts, I nodded my head at him and smiled, he smiled back at me, looking over my face, as if he was trying to find out what I was thinking about, he gently patted my shoulder, as if he was reassuring me in some way, even if he didn't know what I was thinking about "don't worry 'bout it" he said and then moved his hand from my shoulder and back to the strap of his cross-bow, where it seemed his hand was always glued to., apart from those rare occasions he didn't have his cross-bow handy.

Merle walked out the room, he had been searching and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say 'well, I can't find anything' "there ain't anythin' in these rooms either" he said and jabbed his thumb to the door way he had just came out of "well 'less you're countin' the blankets and pillows, as things we can use" he continued scratching his shoulder, I shook my head and ran a hand through my tied back hair that as practically falling out of the hair tie anyway "no we're not counting the pillows and blankets, Merle" I stated simply, sighing before I continued "but I suppose we can use them to sleep with tonight" Daryl nodded his head in agreement and walked around Merle into the room, saying "yeah, that's a good idea, we'll have to sleep downstairs though, make it easier on us, y'know just in case we get raided or somethin'".

Daryl and I picked up a bunch of blankets and pillows out of the airing cupboard and walked down stairs with them in hand, making sure we don't trip over something and fall, Merle just stood in the door way, doing nothing but watch while me and Daryl done most of the work, like he always does "you know, it wouldn't be so bad if you helped us out every once in a while, just saying" I told him, throwing two pillows and a blanket at his face "aww, com'on princess. I've done a lot stuff today, I'm exhausted" he replied, catching the blanket and pillows in his arms, I stood up and crossed my arms over my chest "yeah, and? What about me and Daryl?, huh? We've done a lot of stuff today too and we're just as exhausted as you are" I said, motioning a hand over to Daryl who had put his cross-bow down to move a couple bits of furniture around the room, so there was enough space for the three of us to lay down, with a sigh and a groan of protest, Merle pushed himself off of the door frame and walked over to help Daryl move the the furniture.

I laughed and rubbed my eyes, yawning "aww, what's wrong princess? tired?" Merle chuckles, I yawned once again and held my middle finger up to him, which just made Daryl and Merle laugh at me "fuck you, guys" I mumbled quietly, sitting on the floor, I pulled the blanket over myself and grabbed a pillow "hey, what 'bout helpin' me n Daryl?" the oldest Dixon said, glaring at me "oh honey, it's like you said I'm a princess, I don't do helping" I retorted, a sweet smile playing on my lips, sounding a little sarcastic "princess my ass, you shouldn't called her that, Merle, we'll never live it down" Daryl whispered to his brother, who muttered something in return, something along the lines of 'yeah, I'm regretting calling her princess now'.

Daryl flopped down on the floor next to his cross-bow and Merle lead down on the couch that they had pushed back against a door that lead to the kitchen, he placed his arm over his eyes, me being me and worrying about the boys, I threw them a pillow and blanket each.

"Who's gonna stay up for, the first watch?" I asked stretching my arms out in front of me "not you for a start 'princess'" Daryl responded, in a playful tone, making air quotes with his fingers when said princess "um, excuse me, but I can stay up and keep an eye on this place for a couple of hours" I replied, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting "nu-uh, no way, you'd fall asleep in the first ten minutes" he jabbed a finger in my direction "like hell I will" I muttered, trying to suppress a yawn, that was threatening to escape and make my argument invalid, so I just sat there on the floor, making a really weird face, as I tried my hardest not to yawn.

"See? You can't stop yawning and god only knows you look tired as fuck...and you look real stupid, tryin' not to yawn" Daryl whispered, seeing as Merle had started snoring, I looked at my hands quietly for a few seconds, feeling more exhausted than I have in days "okay, fine, but wake me up when it's my turn, I don't want you falling asleep and then we get raided or something" I yawned out, stretching my arms and back "yeah sure thing, now com'on move away from the door and get where I can keep an eye on ya and protect ya" Daryl ordered, I nodded my head and pulled my hair tie out, putting the hair tie around my wrist, I moved away from the door, just as Daryl had requested, me to do.

"Night" I whispered to him, Daryl just nodded his head and stood up off, the floor, brushing the dust from the back of his jeans.


	2. Chapter 2

I was woken up by a gentle kick to my shoulder, however me being me and not wanting to wake up just yet, I rolled over onto my side groaning slightly, which earned me another kick, it wasn't my shoulder that got the kick this time, it was my back and the kick wasn't as gentle as the first, I rolled over onto my back, propping myself up on my back "com'on Kat, get your lazy ass up" Merle's gruff voice snapped me out of my sleep dazed state "fuck you, Dixon" I mumbled, stretching my back and arms, feeling them pop back into place "I tried getting you to, but you just kicked my ass, remember Kitten?" Merle responded with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes at him, rubbing my back, the floor wasn't too comfortable but it did it's job and it sure did seem a little bit comfy last night when I was sleeping, it wasn't long until the sound of broken gurgles and grunts made it's way to my ears, my head shot up and I looked around the room, in a panic.

Daryl was stood in the door way, his cross-bow was raised and he was looking down the hallway, keeping an eye on the entrance that the three of us had walked through a few hours ago, Merle was stood just behind Daryl, glancing over his shoulder at me "shit, why the fuck didn't you two tell me there are walkers" I snapped quietly, hoping the walkers couldn't hear me, I stood up abruptly and wobbled slightly from the blanket that was wrapped around my legs, I quickly kicked the blanket away from my legs and brushed my long Auburn hair into a pony tail "sorry 'princess', I had some business to attend to" Daryl said, gesturing a hand to the door way where he was standing with two very dead walkers laying face down on the floor in front of him, a puddle of blood started to pool.

I picked up my bag and quickly slung it over my shoulders, I drew my dads hunting knife out and gripped it tightly in my hands "yeah, how the fuck did I even sleep through that?" you muttered, walking over to the brothers who had their backs to you "because you needed the sleep" Merle responded as if it was the most the obvious thing in the world and twirled the led-pipe around in his hand, I hummed in agreement and placed my hands on their backs "lets go boy's" I whispered to them, the both of them nodded their heads in unison and cautiously stepped out around the corner.

I smiled ever so slightly, which was rare for me lately considering everything that's happened, you know with the dead walking about, but these two reminded me of my own brother and two sisters, Louise and Darren they'd be yelling at each other and trying to cause trouble for one and other but they've always had each other backs, the smile fell at the edges as I remembered my sister Alyssa was still out there some where, with some of her friends apparently, I squeezed my eyes shut 'I hope you're safe' I thought to myself.

Just as I opened my eyes I slipped on the pool of blood, I instantly shot my hand out and grabbed a hold of Daryl's arm and placed my other hand on the wall next to me, trying to balance myself but instead I jerked Daryl's arm nearly making Daryl fall over, Merle raised the led-pipe and turned around with Daryl following suit, obviously they thought it was a walker after them, I looked at the sheepishly and giggled a little "sorry, I nearly slipped over" I told them in a quiet whisper, both of them letting out a puff of air and lowering their weapons, both giving me a quick once over with their eyes.

"What? I said I was sorry" I mumbled to them as they turned their backs to me and continued walking down the hallway, the sound of shuffling coming from the kitchen, the odd broken groan and blood filled gurgle grabbing my attention "guys" I whispered as quietly as I could, both of them turning their heads slightly and stopping just before the kitchen door, before Daryl could say a word there was another shuffling sound and broken gurgle that sounded close by, I turned around and tapped Merle's shoulder with a shaking hand.

There was a walking shambling down the stairs the best it could as well as walker in the kitchen, I knew staying a house would have been a bad idea, but there was really no other places to be spending the night that wouldn't allow us to be dead before morning, the three of you walked passed the kitchen door as slowly as possible, trying not to step on any creaky floorboards and make a sound, although the shambling walker from the stairs was now following us.

I stopped and looked back at Daryl and Merle who had just stepped out the house, the walker's groans were getting closer, I turned and faced the on coming walker, it's arm sticking out in front of it's self at the smell of fresh meat, it's jaws opening and closing mechanically, I gulped and raised the hunting knife that was gripped tightly in my hand, I grabbed a hold of the zombie's neck and plunged the knife through it's head, the now still corpse dropped to the floor with a loud thud.

I leaned over it and quickly pulled my hunting knife from it's head before I was pushed against the wall, the walker from the kitchen snapping at me, I pushed my arms against it, trying to keep the walker as far away from me as humanly possible, I grunted and pushed the walker back and instantly thrusted the blade of the hunting knife through it's head and ripped the blade away, walker blood splattering over my face as I did so.

I stared at the two still corpses and the thick puddle of blood that had start to form quickly "Kat?" Daryl asked, I looked at him out the corner of my eyes, he and Merle were stood in the doorway that we had came through, I nodded my head a bit and slowly tore myself away from the scene laying before me "yeah...lets go" I murmured quietly, pushing my away passed the two of them.

"Kitten? is everythin' okay?" Merle asked after a few minutes, I shrugged my shoulders at him, putting my hunting knife back into it's place, I turned around to face them when I couldn't hear their foot steps, Daryl was looking at me with a deep frown on his face "Kat" he started, holding a his arms open for me, I chewed my bottom lip and stepped into his arms "Jose" Merle whispered, even though he can be a giant dick, he could manage to be a sweetheart at times and when it's absolutely needed.

I wrapped my arms around Daryl and he did the same to me, Merle gently placed his hand on my back "Josie. you didn't 'ave to do that, me and Merle coulda taken care of it" Daryl whispered in my ear, I shook my head and buried my head into his, letting out a muffled sobbed, sure I killed a walker before, when this whole thing started and I had no one else to protect me, but that never stopped me from me from regretting it-some more than others.

Merle sighed and rubbed my back while Daryl just stood there and hugged me "it's alright, you'll get use to killin' 'em" Merle said quietly, his eyes scanning the open scenery for any walkers, I backed away from the both of them and ran the back of my hand under my nose and wiped the tears away "y-yeah" I breathed out shakily, sniffing a little "I'll be fine, we can get going now" I told them and turned my back on them "Kat, you'll get use to it" Daryl repeated what Merle said.

I turned to them "of course I will, this is our new life" I shrugged and smiled a little bit "there's that smile" Merle laughed the three of us continuing down the street, cars, motorbikes, push bikes and trucks littered the road, all of them had their doors open, paper flew around in the wind, the place was practically deserted, save a few walkers that were stumbling about, none of them paying attention to the three of us.

"We gotta look for more supplies, guys" I called to them, stopping just as my stomach rumbled, Daryl sighed stopped next to me, while Merle threw a brick through the window of a little convenience store "you could have just opened the door, I'm sure it's open" I laughed, watching Merle, who didn't seem as if he was listening to me "don't bother" Daryl stated, crossing his arms over his chest "he aint gonna listen" Daryl clarified after looking at the confused face I was making, my mouth making an 'O' shape.

"I'm just gonna check a few cars" I told Daryl, giving Merle a quick glance and a shake of my head before I slipped inside a car and popped the trunk, Daryl was leaning against the car, keeping a close eye on me "I hope Merle finds some junk food, I'm dying for junk food" I joked, Daryl smiling at me "you cheered up quickly" he noted, I shrugged my shoulders and leaned over "can't stay sad over it forever" I replied instantly, biting my lower lip as the images passed through my mind "ain't that the truth" Daryl huffed, you heard scraping and jumped back to find Daryl had moved and was now looking through the things in the back seats of the car.

"There's nothing in the boot" I sighed out, slamming the trunk shut "the what?" Daryl asked confused, I rolled my eyes "the trunk" I put emphasis on 'trunk', Daryl laughed "why didn't you just say that? And speak American" he joked and rolled his shoulders, pulling out two bottles of water "this is the only thing I found" he said, motioning for me to join him after he shut the door behind himself, I stepped next to him "maybe Merle found something...a little better than two bottles of water" I said, rubbing my forehead and looking over to the store "hopefully" Daryl agreed.

The wooden door of the store was flung open and Merle stood in the door way, a smirk on his face and blood covering his hands "com'on you two, we got a few things in here" Merle yelled to the two of us, me and Daryl pushed ourselves away from the car, Daryl pulling me back a little and opening my bag, where he stuffed the bottles of water into my bag, Merle stood in the door way crossing his arms and glaring at the two of us "we're coming, Merle" I called to him, annoyance lacing every word, causing Daryl to chuckle and nudge my arm.

"Com'on Kitten, we gotta go before he drags us there" he whispered in my ear, I looked over at Merle and glared at him "I wont go quietly if he did" I growled lowly, the two of us making our way over to a rather fidgety Merle, who was glaring at us both "the hell takin' you so long" he muttered irritated "we had things to do" I quipped, placing my hand on Merle's shoulder and pushing him aside so I could enter the store, Daryl chuckling and shrugging his shoulders "it's like Kat said" he told Merle pointing after me "we had things to do" he finished.


	3. Chapter 3

I walked through the dimly lit store kicking an empty plastic bottle across the cluttered floor and stepping over some clear plastic, I turned swiftly on my heels holding my knife up in case there was anything un-dead waiting around the shelving unit to attack me but instantly lowering my hand when there was no one there the only thing stood up was a mannequin that was missing it's arms and head, my lips parted and a small sigh escaped, I don't think I can handle killing another walker within hours of each other.

Putting my knife back into its original place on my belt and covered the handle over with the bottom of my tank top, kneeling down I whipped one of the straps off my shoulder to let it rest on one of my arms "stay where we can see ya" Merle yelled to me I turned my head and shot him a frown, putting my right index finger over my lips while making a gesture with my left hand telling him to lower his voice, we didn't need the resident walkers barging in on us ransacking the bloody place for supplies that they obviously have no need for seeing as well they're dead "just stay close" Daryl whispered holding a hand out, although with the deserted and quiet store it echoed around the place, bouncing off the walls "yeah sure thing" I replied leaning forwards my right hand reaching out for a can of deodorant.

 _'At least I have a use for you'_ I thought to myself just in case Daryl or Merle can't make a small fire when the three of us set up camp next at least there's something we could use to light it "now to find lighter fluid" I muttered to myself as I stood up slowly my knees clicking, I had a full lighter but it would need more fluid sooner or later, I undone the bag and placed the can inside on top of everything else that was in there before quickly doing it all up and turning on my heels to see that Merle and Daryl were barging their shoulders into the door of the pharmacy that probably held all of the medication that wasn't out on display "really?" I groaned rolling my head back before dropping the bag on the floor next to Daryls' crossbow "Merle just wants to see what's in there" Daryl grunted out, rolling my eyes at them I leaned against the surface where the till once was and crossed my arms.

"He always wants to see what's in these things" I moaned, Merle shooting me a look and I just shrugged my shoulders at him "whatever, I'm not going to argue over this again" I rolled my dark blue eyes "good 'cause I ain't in the mood to argue" Merle responded I rolled my eyes at him once more and turned my attention to the store around us, it was a medium sized store; the floor had cardboard boxes, shelving units tipped over some even stacked on top of the others, paper and dust coating the floor.

Some times it makes me wonder what a place would have looked like before the whole world went to hell, or maybe it wasn't the whole world that went to hell, maybe it was just all of America? Maybe just a select few places in the world was like this, I honestly had no clue if everything was just as bad anywhere else in the world as it was here and that's what made me curious about the whole thing and some what terrified.

"If you ain't doin' nothin' then make yourself useful N' slip through the gap" Merle said waving a hand in front of myself, breaking me out of my little trance I shook my head and blinked at him focusing my vision the best I could "I'm not going through there" I pointed at the tiny little gap in the window that child could barely fit through "Merle we don't even know what's on the other side of the door" Daryl cut in stepping between the two of us sounding far more defensive than he looked "hey lil brother, if there were any walkers back there, they woulda heard us bangin' on it" Merle defended himself rubbing the back of is head with his large hand, I tilted my head to the side, my mouth open in surprise "you'd actually let me go in there? With or without a walker there?" I asked clearly Merle was in a dick-ish mood "'course not" Daryl answered for him, shooting Merle a look out the corner of his eyes "fine, fine she's not goin' in" Merle grumbled grumpily throwing his hands in the air as he turned back to the door rubbing his hand over his chin as he thought of ways to get through the door.

"You know what" I suddenly said breaking the silence that had settled over the three of us, stepping over the crossbow and my bag I climbed onto the surface just under the small window that Merle wanted me to get through both Daryl and Merle racing over to me, their hands shooting up to support me, Daryls' hands on my legs and Merles' on my ass "Merle get your hands off my ass before I kick you" Merle chuckled and moved his hands a small clapping sound coming from behind me "what're ya doin'?" Daryl asked curiously peeking around my legs and looking up at me one of his eyebrows raised, I smiled down at him "I'm gonna try and fit through this window" I shrugged Daryl giving me a look of 'you have to be kidding me' which I brushed off, reaching up and gripped the edges of the window in my hands leaning close to it so that I can listen out for any noises that would get me killed or possibly worse-turned into a walker and Merle or Daryl putting me out of my misery, I shuddered at the thought.

There was no sound coming from in side the pharmacy that I could hear anyway, my eyebrows show up that was promising no sound no walkers so I craned my neck to peek in but could hardly see anything the lights didn't seem like they were working, one of the industrial lights at the far end of the pharmacy buzzed and flickered on and off making the whole room look eerie and rather creepy, I pushed with all my might on the window but it wouldn't budge an inch I grunted and pushed on the window again as hard as I could but once again it wouldn't budge a single inch.

"Daryl, do you think you could open this a bit more for me?" I asked looking down at him, his blue-green eyes looking up at me, his warm hands were still on my some what shaky legs even though I should be used to heights by now, anyway I was gripping onto the window for dear life "yeah, just get off the side will ya" Daryl responded nicely although concern was lacing his words, giving me a thin lipped smile his dark brown hair was messed up from where he would constantly run his hand's through his hair "yeah, good idea" I let go of the window.

Very slowly and wobbly I turned around on the small surface that could possibly hold two if they were close together and were very good at balancing, slowly I bent down Daryl kept his hand out stretched grabbed a hold of his right hand tightly before I hopped off I stepped to the side and Daryl quickly jumped onto the side and pushed the window down enough for me to some what pass through.

"I may need the two of you to push me through" I joked covering up my nervousness with a laugh as I reached a hand up for Daryls', his fingers curled around my hand and he yanked me onto the surface with him nearly pulling my arm out of it's socket as he did so, my body was practically flush against his, seeing as there's not enough room to step "be careful in there" Daryl said gently letting go of my hand "aren't I always?" I asked cockily a cheeky smile planted on my lips still covering up my nervousness with cockiness which some what helped at least Daryl didn't look as if he was going to lose me to a walker bite any time soon a small breathy chuckle escaped his lips "just don't leave without me if anything bad happens" I added at the end like a lead weight on the end of a fishing line "never" he stated simply letting go of my hand before he jumped down.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked over at Merle who was still trying his hardest at barging his way into the pharmacy, I put my hand on the ledge of the window and shifted so that I could go through the window head first only to raise my hand a little, patting my chest feeling for the lighter until I felt it "right, off I go" I mumbled feeling un-sure about my sudden life decision to potentially get killed just so that Merle could get something, I wiggled through the window the handle of my hunting knife pressed into the side of my hip hard enough to leave a bruise, grunting I pulled my legs through the window and fell to the floor face first, holding my hands out in front of myself before I hit my face on the floor.

I slowly lowered myself to the floor and groaned closing my eyes and pressing my cheek to the rough carpeted floor "are you alright?" Merle called from the other side of the door a quick knock sounded grabbing my attention "yeah" I said muffled laying on the floor for a few seconds longer "can you see what's blockin' the door?" Daryl asked sounding far less muffled than Merle did, probably because he was leaning his head through the window "nothings blocking the door, it's probably locked, try finding one of the works out there, I'll look for in here, or possibly an extra key" I responded slowly pushing myself to my feet, I dusted off myself and stepped over the fallen trays, bottles and broken glass, I turned my head to look around the the small pharmacy area, squinting my eyes the buzzing and flickering light didn't do much to illuminate the place.

I pulled my silver engraved lighter from my pocket and flipped the lid open the small flame giving me enough light to see; the walls were lined with different kinds of boxes and bottles coming from the left there was two lines of two metal shelving which were stacked with even more boxes. I span around and stopped to find a table pushed up against the side of the wall, paper stacked on top of it, its weird to see a place so clean and tidy, it almost makes me feel as if everything would get better, the key word is _almost._ Walking over to the table I reached a hand out and pulled the draw open; paper, pens, sticky notes and rubber bands spewing over the side, a frown settled over my face as I put my lighter on top of a stack of papers and dug through the draw dropping the papers and other things to the floor "for some one keeping this place tidy, they didn't half keep a messy desk" I said to myself sniffing a little bit as I got to the bottom of the draw "nothing" I muttered, pushing the draw shut roughly.

grabbing my lighter I turned around just as muffled shouts sounded from the other side of the door, I quickly flipped the lid back down on my lighter and placed it into my pocket I walked over to the door quickly, pressing my ear to the thick wood to see if I could make anything out, the only thing I could hear was Daryl and Merle along with another males voice, a female and young kid and there could possibly be more waiting out side, I pressed my ear to the door to listen in.

"Drop the gun" Merle snarled, Daryl grunting he must have his crossbow up.  
"An don't touch the bag" Daryl snapped, shuffling could be heard although not very well due to thickness of the door.  
"Come on now, we don't want to fight" the male said almost too quietly for me to hear "then drop the gun and leave the bag alone, that belongs to someone" Daryl said defensively "we just want supplies, like you and your friend here" the woman spoke kindly followed by the sound of a bag being dropped to the floor "then get some supplies" Merle snapped at them, I sighed and curled my hand into a fist deciding to let them know that I'm ready to get out of this place, so I knocked on the door as hard as I could.

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Sorry I took so long to update.


	4. Chapter 4

"Who's in the room?" the man asked cautiously "none of your damn business" Merle snapped, I leaned against the door and pressed my ear to the door "did you two lock someone in there?" the woman asked sounding very suspicious you expected that Daryl and Merle were giving the people a few dirty looks, they'd definitely wouldn't have locked me in here and they probably had their weapons held up to them defensively "no" Daryl answered flatly, whenever he talked like that you knew something bad was about to happen "an' I don't care much for your accusations either" Daryl said after a few seconds, I sighed and banged on the door once more "well open the door then" the sound of the kid speaking-almost muffled by the door could be heard "we can't" Merle muttered to them I turned around and slid to the floor resting my head against the thick wooden door.

"Why?" Asked the woman "it's locked" they both responded, clearly not wanting to divulge any information to them "then how did the person get in there?" the man asked "climbed through" Daryl shot back defensively, I shook my head and looked around the room, now that my eyes had adjusted to dark room I leaned forwards and slowly crawled along the floor to the nearest shelf where I lead down and shoved my hand under the shelving unit feeling around just in case the key was dropped and kicked under, my fingers brushed across something cold and metal, grunting I moved a bit closer so I could grab the key, my fingers curled around the key and pulled my hand back, the key firmly in my grasp.

I back up and pushed myself off the floor and was now crouching on the balls of my feet "guys!" I called out with a smile on my face as I turned the key over in the palm of my hand, it had a round back for a key ring to go through and the neck was long, there was a few muffled words before Merle spoke "yeah, Kat?", "I've found the key" I called to him and stood up straight, my knees clicking beneath me, I turned on the heels of my feet and walked over to the door that was keeping me from Daryl and Merle "that's my girl!" Merle laughed, I couldn't help but chuckle, Merle only said something like that when I did something to make him proud of me.

There was a creak coming from close by, a few things falling to the floor with a clutter, I paused and sucked in a deep breath "everythin' good in there?" Daryl called "shut up" I said as loudly as I dared "Kat?" Daryl called to me followed by a loud banging noise from out side of the room, which was followed by a groaning sound that sounded as if it was coming behind me, I slowly turned around lowering a hand so that it was on the hilt of my hunting knife, my hand shaking like no bodies business, a shelving unit was pushed out of the way and a door was slowly pushed open "what's going on in there?" Merle yelled, the vicious snarl of the walker that emerged from the other door sent a shiver down my spine "shut up!" I called back to them, this time louder than before I backed up against the door, sucking in another deep breathe, how the hell did I not notice the door behind one of the shelving units? It's not like it's hard to miss or anything.

I was shaking all over, still not one to kill a walker, even if it does try to kill me first "one of you, do something!" the woman called to the two brothers "what do you propose we do?" Daryl snarled at her "she's locked in there" Merle defended "with one of those things!" the child yelled "she said it was clear!" Merle yelled, my eyes were trained on the walker that was stumbling over the shelving unit's legs, but ended up falling to the floor as it made it's way over the leg, I let out a small puff of air, withdrawing my hunting knife from my belt "shut up, shut up, just shut up" I hummed impatiently listening to the argument going on out side as well as keeping an eye on the walker in the room with me, watching the walker in front of me stand back up rather mechanically, it's jaws snapping open and closed a bloody gurgles emitting from it's throat.

I whipped around and shoved the key in the door, the sudden noise making the argument out side of the room come to a full stop. I looked over my shoulder at the walker that was drawing ever closer, it was swinging an arm out in front of itself, as if it was trying to catch something, I jiggled the key in the lock desperate to get out of the room and kept hitting my shoulder against the door, as if I was willing it help get me out even quicker.

The key dropped out of the key hole and I groaned, turning around just as the walker reached me, I pushed my free hand out against it's shoulder to keep it from chomping down on my flesh, doing my best to kick the key under the door way, hoping that Merle or Daryl would open the door and save me from killing yet another one, I pushed the walker away from me, pushing the blade of my hunting knife through it's head, the body landed on the floor with a thud and I landed on top of it, my legs were on either side of the dead walker, my right hand was still wrapped around the hilt of my knife and my left hand was placed on it's shoulder still.

A pool of thick, gooey blood started to form on the floor, soaking into the carpet underneath, I sat there on top of the walker staring down at it's face, it had a huge chunk missing from his left cheek, his eyes looked cold and lifeless, the walkers body was stiff and looked drained of colour. I breathed out a shaky breath unable to tear my eyes away from it, the door opened and two sets of foot steps could be heard along with a chorus of sighs "hey, Kitten you hurt?" Merle asked quietly, I shook my head slightly, my Auburn hair flopping over my shoulders a bit "you okay?" Daryl questioned coming to a stop next to me "no" I whispered hoarsely, tears starting to fall down my cheeks as I let go of my hunting knife, Daryl knelt down beside me, his hand found it's way to my back, rubbing circles all over my back, he placed his cross-bow on the floor and pulled the knife from it's forehead.

"You did what you had to, Katherine" Merle said, placing a warm comforting hand on my shoulder "I-I don't want to do that for a while" I whispered quietly, wiping the tears away roughly with the back of my hand "we know" Daryl soothed, wiping the blood from the blade and putting it back where it belonged on my belt, Merle moved his hand so that it was now hooked under my arm and pulled me up before he dragged me away from still corpse, Daryl picking his cross-bow up and following the two us close behind, standing in the way of the corpse, so I wouldn't have to look at it anymore.

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A/N;

I'm sorry it takes so long to update everyone, I spend a lot of time making sure the chapters are perfect, even though some mistakes evade me. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Merle came to a full stop and I nearly bumped into him looking down at his hand that was still tightly hooked around my arm. "Who's this?" asked the man who I had heard before, although his voice was a little muffled by the door I was behind, he was tall; had messy dark brown hair that looked as if it hadn't been washed for a while and dark brown eyes that was boring daggers at Merle, "what's it to you?" Merle asked his grip tightening around my arm "I'm just wondering" the guy shrugged, putting the gun he was holding back into it's holster "did they make you go in there?" The asked turning his attention to me, Merle pushed me behind his back glaring at the three people in front of us "no" I answered almost quietly a small frown etched onto my face "they didn't make me go in there, I went in on my own accord" Daryl came to a stop next to me and Merle, giving me a side ways glance as if he was making sure I was alright and that I was all in one piece.

"Is that so?" the man asked he clearly didn't believe a word that was coming out of my mouth "it is" I shot back at him trying to take a step forwards to the man, my hand clenched by my side as Merle jolted my arm back before pulling me away from the man, when it came to the living I was more than happy to fight them; seeing as the worst thing that could happen if I did was that I'd be killed, the _living dead_ on the other hand...the suffering one has to go through before they're finally dead and are then reanimated into walking corpses...I can't handle it.

"okay, lets say I believe you" he spoke his tongue darting out between his chapped lips "we aren't going to hurt any of you" the man reassured "how the hell can we be sure?" Daryl asked cautiously "because we have a whole group moving out through these parts, we're making our way to the hills, its actually not too far from here" he told the three of us the woman and the boy, who I had assumed to be her son nodded in agreement with the guy and as if on cue a group of people walked into view "okay, that seems legit" I smiled happy to finally see some actual human beings.

"The names Shane" the man-Shane- said, his eyes darting between the three of you "this is Carl and his mother Lori" he said introducing the two others stood just in front of him "you three can join us, we have need for more man power" he offered, the group standing behind Shane were looking at me and the brothers, some of them seemed as if they were hoping we would accept the offer.

"We're not going Kat, we don't even know these people" Merle whispered in my ear I tore my arm from his grip and looked up at him, my eyebrows knitted together "I didn't know you when I joined the two of you, Merle..." I paused for a moment and ran a hand through my hair, my right placed on his chest "come on, it's just been the three of us for so long" I pleaded, Daryl placed the warm palm of his hand on my back tilting his head to the side so that he could get a look at my face "com'on Kat, you ain't bein' serious" Daryl whispered to me I shook my at them and took a step back.

"I'm not going to wait around here to be the next corpses meal, I'm leaving with the group" I told them both and picked my bag up, shrugging it over my shoulders turning my back on Merle and Daryl who had become my brothers and sighed "you're either going to join me or you're never seeing me again" I spoke the words with such confidence that I almost believed I would actually leave without the two of them, when in reality I couldn't take a single step away from them.

I heard Merle and Daryl sigh in unison "okay, we're goin' with you" Daryl spoke before Merle could, a smile slowly spread across my lips I span around to face them "good, because honestly I don't think I could leave the two of you" I exclaimed making Merle roll his eyes at me, Daryl had a blank look on his face.

"Are you three coming or not?" Lori asked breaking the mushy moment, much to the relief of Merle "yeah we are" I responded, throwing a look over my shoulder as I saw the group start to walk by slowly which was followed by a camper going at a rather low speed due to the people walking in front of it.

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A/N;

Sorry this is shorter than the others.


	6. Chapter 6

It took 4 hours of walking and a lot of breaks before the group finally got to the hills that Shane had talked about, and the sun had started to set leaving the sky a beautiful orange-red colour.

Both Merle and Daryl telling anyone who wanted to start a conversation with me to just leave me alone until they can trust everyone in the group, some of them seemed to respect it some just mumbled something under their breath about them being stupid and that no one is going to hurt me. It was safe to say that both Merle and Daryl didn't find it amusing and I had to get between the two of them and the other person, I didn't mind them being protective of me but it was starting to ware thin, their protective behavior is going to be the death of them on of these days.

I sat down next to Daryl and Merle who was trying to figure out how to put our tent up which just so happened to be the tent me and my family were going to use when we went camping "do you want any help?" I asked bored out of my wits and very much in need of something to do "no, we got it" Merle huffed out bending some of the rods that holds the tent up, so he could try and put them through a curves slot of fabric, one of the rods came loose and went flying past me and landing in front of the camper.

"'No, we got it'" I mimicked as I stood up, brushing off the grass from my ass, and wandered over to get the rod "'we got it' my ass" I called over my shoulder at the brothers, Daryl waving his arms about at Merle for nearly hitting me with rod "they seem very protective of you" someone commented, I jumped and stepped away from the , looking around the camp site for where the voice came from, but everyone else was doing their own thing and was no where near me.

"Up here" I heard a chuckle and tipped my head back so that I was looking towards the roof of the camper, sat on a fold out chair on top was a man he had a hat on and a greying beard and is wearing a very bright button up shirt that looked like something my dad would wear to the beach, a white "I didn't mean to scare you" he said in an apologetic voice.

"No, it's fine, I just didn't see you up there" I answered back with a little nervous laugh "they seem very protective over you" the man said nodding his head in the direction of Merle and Daryl, I looked over my shoulder at the two of them; who still looked as if they were arguing "yeah" I said slowly drawing the word out "they are", "that's a good thing, some times anyway" the man commented "yeah" I mumbled quietly "well it'll be the death of them one day" I answered without thinking about it.

"It'll be because it was their choice to protect you and not because of you" he reasoned I gave him a thin lipped smile in return and grabbed the rod from the soft grass, that Merle and Daryl will no doubt need "it wouldn't feel like that at the time", the man shrugged his shoulders tilting his head to the left a smile forming on his lips "my names, Dale" he offered "Katherine" I stated pausing for a moment "by the way, you can call me Kat or Jose" I shrugged waving the rod around in a circle "Jose?" Dale asked sounding a bit confused "it's short for Josephine, my middle name" I remarked, Dale opened his mouth to say something when Daryl's voice grabbed our attention "Kat! com'on!" I sighed and gave him an apologetic smile "I better go, it was good to talk to you", "like wise" Dale said softly.

I walked back Daryl and Merle who was glaring at me and sending death glares over my shoulder to Dale, who probably wasn't paying any attention to the two of them "what?" I asked them innocently "I thought we told ya not to talk to anyone" Merle snapped yanking the rod from my hand roughly I gave him a look and flickered my eyes over to Daryl who just so happened to be glaring at me still "oh come on you two, they haven't hurt us yet".

"Yet" Daryl said the two of them getting back to setting up the tent "what are they gonna do? Kill us in our sleep?" I joked laughing a little bit only to stop when Merle whirled around to face me one of his hands still holding a few rods for Daryl who must have figured out how to put it up "I wouldn't put it past them do something like that" my shoulder drooped and I sat back down on the grass, stretching my legs out in front of myself picking a few strands of grass "you know, we're gonna have to give them a chance" I muttered in a low voice so that the brothers could just hear me "we'll be the judge of that" Daryl grunted as he finished putting the tent up, he and Merle both hammering the pegs into the ground to keep it grounded.

"All I'm saying is that you give them a chance, is all" I stated looking up from the blade of grass in my finger tips "we are kitten" Daryl answered and Merle grunted obviously he wasn't on the same wave length of me and Daryl "we're just real cautious" Daryl clarified "yeah, don't want nothin' happening to ya" Merle agreed picking my bag up with his right hand "Daryl said he'll keep an eye out tonight" Merle said, reaching a hand out for me, I hesitantly took his hand and got up "if you need one of us to swap because you're getting tired, just let us know" I told Daryl worry lacing my words and flashing across my face.

"Don't worry so much, will'ya" Daryl scowled placing a heavy, warm hand on my head and ruffling my hair up, I gave him a pointed look before following Merle into the tent, it was big enough for six people to get in here "if you need anything I'll be over here" Merle told me pointing just behind himself as he dropped my bag to the floor "yeah" I simply said sitting on the floor on the other side of the tent, Merle sighed and looked me over "I'm sorry for snappin' at ya, earlier" throwing Merle a tired smile I just replied back with "its fine" and lead on the floor, folding my arms behind my head.

"You ain't gonna sleep like that are ya?" Merle questioned "yes" I answered his questioned plainly "why?" he quizzed I rolled my eyes and mentally slapped him "because for the first time in a long time I feel safe" I started rolling onto my side to face him "we have a group of people that seems nice, a group of people that I hope would help us survive if we're ever attacked by walkers" Merle seemed to mull over what I said before he opened his mouth "what about with me and Daryl? Didn't you feel safe?" I chewed the inside of my cheek while thinking it over "of course I did".

"But?" he prompted "but nothing, I felt safe with the two of you, I just couldn't shake the feeling that maybe one day.." I trailed off a pang of sadness hit me "what?" Merle asked "that one day the two of you might get turned into a walker because of me" Daryl snorted and chocked on a laugh, pocking his head through the gap in the tent "don't be stupid, Kat" he interjected the conversation, Merle nodding in agreement "if one of us dies, it's probably 'cause we were bein' an idiot" this made me laugh "I think that's a more practical way to put it", "that so very nice of ya" Daryl uttered under his breath.

I was about to reply when a cough could be heard me and Merle shared a glance and Daryl backed out of the tent, so me and Merle could look out the gap "Dale said that the three of you could join us around the fire" a young girl said, she had straight light blondish-brown hair "we'll be fine here" Merle said curtly the girl cringing slightly "for now, thank you though" I added and slapping Merle around the head "oh, okay" she mumbled sounding a little disappointed in the fact that the three of you weren't going to join them.

"there's plenty of blankets in the camper...if the three of you need it" she said nicely before waving at the three of us and leaving "you two are literally worried over nothing, they're nice people" I shrugged before backing away into the tent, both Merle and Daryl grumbling to each other about how I might actually be right.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N; the para's in italics are for flash backs/ dreams

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Merle was asleep on the other side of the tent snoring rather loudly , I sighed and put my hands over my ears staring up at the top of the tent unable to attain sleep, rolling onto my side so that my back facing Merle's sleeping body I let out an exasperated sigh before sitting up and dropping my hands to the floor "why?" I groaned looking over at him, snoring away, his mouth opening and closing, my lip curled up and I stood up "sleep is fucking near impossible" I muttered under my breath, unzipping the tent slowly and as quietly as possible the need for fresh air and a walk slowly creeping up on me.

I slowly stepped out into the cool air and sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled, the camp was quiet aside from the snoring that came from Merle, Daryl was sat next to the tent, his legs crossed over each other, his head tipped back and his eyes closed, one of his hands resting firmly on his cross-bow I smiled to myself and stretched my back clicking in the process I slowly stepped past Daryl who would stop me and ask too many questions about where I'm going and if I'm meeting someone.

My hand came to rest lightly on top of my knife and quietly stepped past each tent "a good walk would help me sleep" I said to myself quietly, brushing a few strands of hair out of my eyes, I walked down the small hill and towards the lake that was close by I stepped onto the sandy area and looked out into the darkness surrounding the quiet camp, I sat down on a bolder and picked up a rock, running my fingers over the smooth surface of the rock in my hands and I lead back onto the bolder behind me and gazed up at the star filled sky.

Humming to myself I closed my eyes as exhaustion slowly taking over me, all of the walking and the fact that Merle was keeping me up all night with his snore was finally getting to me.

 _"How long is it going to take dad to find out what all this screaming and yelling is about?" Darren sighed out exasperatedly "as long as it takes" mum said to Darren, her forearm pressed against the glass of the window that looked out down onto an ally way, neither of us cared about the view it had been the exact same room we stayed in since we started to come to the states since me, Darren and Alyssa moved out "he's taking too long tough" Louise complained "then go out there, and find him" I snapped at her, stuffing my mobile into my pocket when a loud bang on the door sounded the four of the held our breathes and looked around the room at each other, the loud bang was followed by a few more bangs, gurgles and groans "open the door!" dad screamed the banging on the door becoming more frequent._

 _Darren ran to the door and pulled the door open, my dad stumbled into the room Darren shut the door, with the help from dad who tried his best to push all the of the hands out the way of the door "Katherine we need your help" dad called to me pushing his shoulder against the door, he held out the hunting knife for me "I'm not cutting their arms off dad" I said as I hesitantly took the knife from his hand "sweetie, I don't think it would matter with these people! they were chewing on other peoples flesh!" dad called to me, my eyes flickered from dad to the three arms in the door way "come on Kathrine!" Louise yelled at me as she pushed by, she pushed her hands against the wooden door which slammed the arms against the door fame "but-" "NOW KATHERINE!" dad yelled._

 _I made a few little noises before I brought the knife down on one of the arms, blood oozing out of the wound that I had caused "It's not wo-" I started but was cut off by the door being flung open, I stumbled back from the door and the people walking through the door, Darren shut the door behind them quickly "I told you to take care of them" dad snapped at me, the two of them shambled towards me "I was" I snapped back backing up my legs hitting the coffee table behind me "you weren't quick enough!" he yelled and quickly pulled a floor lamp out of it's socked and pushed me out of their way._

 _He raised his the heavy base of the floor lamp into the air and brought it down onto one of their heads as hard as he could, blood splattering all over the creamy white carpet, coffee table and your shins, I looked down at the person on the floor, it had stopped moving and was now just laying in a pool of blood, I could hear my mum yelling at me and Louise scream my name but they just sounded so distant the sound of the lamp being dropped to the floor jolted me out of my thoughts and I was suddenly pushed back by my dad, I fell to the floor and my dad's scream of agony ripped through out the hotel room._

 _"Dad!" I yelled watching he and the other person fell to the floor, I gripped the knife firmly in my hand and crawled over to them quickly and thrust the sharp blade of the knife through the side of other persons head, her white glassy eyes rolled back into her head and she fell on top of my dad, I let go of the handle and fell back on my ass and shuffled backwards my shaking hands dropped to the floor to help me feel grounded._

 _"What did I do" I mumbled quietly pulling my legs up to my chest letting out a shaky breath "w-what did I do" I stuttered over and over again bringing my hands to my hair, my fingers getting tangled up, tears slowly started to fall down my cheeks, averting my gaze from the body of the person and to my legs, the smudged specks of blood that dotted my legs made me whimper, dad pushing her body to the floor beside him and yanked the knife from her skull, wiping the blood on his light blue jeans._

 _"Kat" dad whispered looking over at me "Kat" he said once again moving closer to me, his hand went to my knee, leaving a bloody hand print"Kat, look at me" he said in a soft yet demanding voice, I slowly raised my head to look him "what did I do, dad?" I whined lowering my hands from the side of my head "you just killed someone" Darren said sounding astounded breaking the silence that had fallen after I spoke "Darren!" mum warned "what? It's true" Darren shot back._

 _"You're not helping here, Darren" dad said sternly, turning his gaze back to me "I promise you wont have to do that again, Kat" he said softly moving his bloody hands to my cheeks and rubbed his thumbs gently over my cheek bones smudging sticky blood over my skin "you don't know that" I mumbled shaking my head and pushing his hands away from my face, I let out a sob as the tears continued to fall "Katherine, honey" he started reaching a hand out for me but I slapped it away and slowly rose to my feet and stumbled towards the bathroom._

 _Pushing the door open I walked through and closed the door, instantly locking the door behind my self_

"Kat!" a familiar voice called, I groaned and rolled onto my back "KAT!" another voice called out urgency lacing every word that belonged to the owner of the voice "KATHERINE!" both Daryl and Merle yelled "Daryl, Merle!, she's by the lake!" Lori said to them both, I sighed and opened my eyes only to close them again from the bright light of the sun I placed my hand over my eyes blocking the light out so that I could see properly and sat up on the bolder.

"Kat!" Daryl yelled stopping in front of me  
"Daryl!" I yelled back rubbing the back of my head  
"why the hell are ya down 'ere?" Merle asked, stopping beside Daryl who was now kneeling in front of me "I couldn't sleep in the tent last night, Merle was fucking snoring, so i went for a walk" I explained to him, pushing myself off of the bolder and onto the sand beneath "don't do that again" Merle growled out reaching a hand out he placed it on my upper arm and pulled me around Daryl and into a hug "I wasn't far way" I stated, pushing myself away from Merle "you had us worried" Daryl informed me standing up from the sandy floor, I rolled my eyes at him.

"Yeah!, I got that from you two screaming my name" I mumbled pushing past the two of them "just tell one of us when you're going for a walk!" Merle spoke "okay, I promise I'll tell one of you" I responded stood just around the camp was the whole group watching our exchange, some making gestures to the three as if they were talking about us and few of them had their arms crossed over their chest not saying a word about the scene in front of them, I walked past Lori and just gave her a quick nod of my head.

"I think somethin' might be wrong with her" I heard Merle say "ya think" I heard Daryl ask his older brother "she's got that haunted look in her eyes, the one she usually gets after a bad dream" Merle commented, I wanted to talk to them both about the dreams I have, tell them that they don't need to worry about and that I can handle it and I'll get over them and they wont be bothering me as much as they have been, but that felt like a lie...even though I hadn't said the words the thought of saying them felt like a lie.

"She ever tell ya 'bout the dreams?" Daryl asked "no" Merle answered their voices growing quieter as I got back got back to the camp, everyone watching as I walked by them, I sat at on the floor where the camp fire was last night, everyone else stayed still for a moment before they got busy with bits and pieces, I pulled the knife from it's place on my belt and turned it over in my hands running my thumbs over my fathers name and watching as the sun bounced off of the metal.

"Nice knife, you know how to use it?" Jacqui asked sitting next to me, I look at her and smiled "I wouldn't have it, if I didn't" she nodded her head and nudged my elbow "are you okay?" I nodded my head at her "you just looked a little...down" she shrugged "I'm fine, just a bad dream".

"Ah, I get them every now and then" she replied  
"It's nothing I can't handle"  
"Good" she hummed clapping her hands to her thighs a thin lipped smile on her face as she saw Daryl approach "I'll just leave the two of you to talk".

"What do you want Daryl?" I asked him putting the knife back in it's place "to talk" he stated as if it was an obvious answer "well I don't want to talk", "okay then..." he trailed off shifting from one foot to the other, not moving from my field of vision, I puffed air out of my nose and gave him a pointed look "why are you still here? I don't want to talk" "I know ya don' wanna talk Kitten" he said softly, nudging my foot with his "how 'bout we go huntin' instead?" he asked "okay...but you don't get to ask me any questions about the so called 'haunted' look I have" I smiled making air quotes.

Daryl laughed "you'd tell us in time" he answered.


	8. Chapter 8

I stood from the ground with the help of Daryl "okay, hunting" I muttered hooking my arm with Daryl's "ya ain't gonna sing like ya did last time?" he questioned looking down at me, I sucked in a deep breath and opened my mouth about to sing very loudly and off key as I often did when we walked deep in the woods where there were no walkers, only to be stopped by his large hand covering my mouth "'cause I don't want our food runnin'" he continued and licked his lips "I also really don't wanna hear it" I frowned at him and nudged him in the ribs with my elbow, making him draw his hand away from my mouth "you know I can sing better than that, I just sing like that to annoy you" I huffed out.

Daryl snorted and hummed softly before reply sarcastically "well it is annoyin'" I gave him a pointed look "oh," I coughed clearing my throat "well screw you too" I said casually, a grin finding it's way onto mine and Daryl's lips "ya are still terrible at singing" I opened my mouth "I am no-" "no matter what ya say, ya are still terrible" he commented, cutting me off before I could finish protesting, the two of us took off towards the woods a couple of people watching as we walked by, Merle was stood beside our tent looking around as if he was about to do something stupid that me and Daryl will have to sort out when we get back "I'm better than Merle" I muttered to Daryl quietly, pouting a little bit "anyone's better than Merle" Daryl informed me the grin now replaced with a straight face.

"I swear if we have to sort out one of his messes, I am getting a new tent and moving down to the lake so that I'm far away from him" I spoke, looking over my shoulder at Merle "I might join ya" Daryl nudged my arm and I turned my head to face him "but we'll deal with his mess when we get back...if there is a mess" he said gently hooking a hand around my elbow and leading me towards the forest "we can trust him right?" I asked looking over my shoulder briefly "no, not at all" Daryl growled out, but carried on walking as quickly as he could, not once taking a look over his shoulder at his older brother.

Everything went quiet between me and Daryl as we both took our first steps into the forest, the two of just walked quietly next to each other, not saying a word although Daryl would often looking at me every now and then to make sure that I'm still following him, to which I would just flash him a quick smile.

It was when Daryl didn't fire an arrow at a deer that jumped in front of us and then walked, that I knew we were out here for a different reason other than hunting "why are we really out here, Dixon?" I asked walking a head of him a few meters a chuckle from Daryl reached my ears "I just thought ya would want to few hours away from Merle, we ain't too far from camp, so if someone calls for us, we can still hear 'em" was his answer to my question, I whipped around and faced him a blank look on my face "you honestly don't know how long I have been wanting to get away from Merle", Daryl shrugged at me and watched as I sat on the floor, my back pressed up against one of the many trees.

"So" Daryl started sitting down next to me with his cross-bow resting on top of my legs "what did ya do before this happened?" "before I was stranded fending for my life with you and Merle?" I asked even though I knew that was what he meant "yeah" he answered I hummed and put the back of my head against the trunk of the tree and answered him truthfully "well, I was a pole dancing instructor" Daryl snorted "no, seriously Kat" he nudged my elbow "I am being serous Daryl" I said plainly raising one eyebrow at him "I wouldn't go tellin' Merle, 'bout that" I rolled my eyes at him "he'll probably guess it sooner or later" Daryl nodded his head in agreement, it's not like it matters about my old job anyway, so it's not exactly a secret.

A few minutes passed and all that could be heard was the sound of birds tweeting and the wind blowing through the leaves on the trees, I placed my head on his shoulder, the warm sun hitting our skin through the patches of leafless trees "Merle and I wanted to tell you somethin'" Daryl spoke quietly "hm?" I whined closing my eyes feeling more relaxed than I have for a while "I figured it would have been easier if ya heard it from me, seein' as Merle has a way with words" I nodded my head lazily as if I was telling him to continue.

"Me and Merle are always gonna be 'ere for ya, Kat" he said, I waited for him to finish talking seeing as talks like this are always longer "and if ya ever wanna talk then we're willin' to listen" Daryl paused for a moment before reaching up and pushing a strand of my hair behind my ear and twirling the end of it around his finger before with drawing his hand "I ain't tryin' to get ya to talk 'bout the dream ya had last night, I'm just sayin' that ya ain't alone" a smile formed on my lips slowly "ya're like a sister to me, Kat and family sticks together and helps each other out" he finished with a heavy sigh.

"I know" I whispered back, opening my eyes and looking up at him "and when I wanna open up about the dreams, I'll tell the two of you" I said before Daryl could speak "and no need for the brotherly talk, either" I joked.

* * *

A/N;

Here's chapter 8, sorry it's not action packed or anything, next chapter is set a few days forward.


	9. Chapter 9

"Okay, everyone" Shane called out drawing everyone's attention from their morning routines, Daryl kicked the flap of our tent open narrowly missing Merle's face, the bright sunlight seeping through the open tent "I wonder what the problem is today" I said sarcastically Merle gave a grunt of agreement, it had become a regular thing in the last five days a morning report about any dangers that have been seen around the area, which to be honest wasn't anything to be worried about just a few updates on walker activity "we're running low on supplies" Shane spoke to the small crowd of people in front of him, me and Merle had just gotten out the tent and barely began to stretch out the kinks when Shane started talking.

"I would like Glenn, T-Dog, Andrea, Merle, Morales, Jacqui, and Katherine to go on a supply run" Shane called out "hey, no I don't want Merle to come with us" Glenn said to Shane with a pleading look on his face, honestly I couldn't blame him for not wanting Merle to go with them, when he had a gun in his hands he was dangerous and could easily get the group into some trouble "just for today, Glenn that's all" Shane responded giving the young man a lop sided smile, Glenn let out a sigh of defeat "sure thing".

"Merle, Katherine, go and get ready" Glenn told us pointing his thumb towards the cache of weapons and ammunition that was situated behind him and was close to the camper, a smile found it's way onto my lips "finally I can get out of the camp for a while" I grabbed a hold of the hem of Merle's t-shirt and was about drag him over to the cache when Daryl opened his mouth.

"Whoa, hey no" Daryl started grabbing a hold on my arm and pulling me close to his side, his other hand waving about in front of us "that's a bad idea" Daryl and Merle said in unison making Shane groan, I haven't been able to do a lot of things due to these two and their over protective behaviors "listen, Kat ain't comin'" Merle remarked shooting Shane a glare, his hands both curling into fists.

"She has to do something, Merle" Shane pointed out running a hand through his hair in frustration "she can't just sit around doing nothing, she needs to pull her weight around the camp" I looked between the three of them, unable to move from Daryl's near iron grip on my arm "she'll come huntin' with me" Daryl butted in which caught Shane's attention "she'll be out of the camp and she'd be doin' somethin'" Daryl reasoned, Shane shook is head and threw his hands in the air "okay, yeah fine she can go hunting" with that Shane walked away muttering about how I can't do anything without their permission.

"Seriously you two?" I groaned out running a hand through my messy hair and cringing as my fingers got caught in the tangles "we need you to be safe, Kat" Merle stated pressing a quick sloppy kiss to my cheek, I rolled my eyes at him and jerked my head away from him "please don't do that again, you know I hate kisses of any kind" "no wonder you're single" Merle joked prodding my ribs with his fingers "you don't like kisses or sex" "oh I'm sorry but is me being ace harming you? In anyway at all?" I asked crossing my eyes and sticking my tongue out at him, which made Merle laugh and Daryl shake his head at his brother "just get goin'" Merle gave his younger brother a look.

"Sure, you keep an eye on her" Merle ordered pointing a finger at him, Daryl didn't say a word to his brother, he just held his gaze.

"He knows what he's doing, Merle" I defended placing my hand on Merle's shoulder in a calming manner "I ain't goin' to let her get hurt" Daryl spoke quietly, I frowned removing my hand from Merle's shoulder, I hated it when the two of them got into an argument, it usually ended with me following one of them to make sure they cooled off before they got back to the tent or the camp.

"Now get going and bring me back a new hair brush, I broke mine" I whined sticking my lower lip out "how the fuck did ya break it?" he a2sked, I tugged at the ends of my hair as if I was giving him a clue "I'll see what I can do, kid" he laughed out, ruffling my hair up which just made it even more messy, I squeezed my eyes shut and made a loud high pitched noise.

"Merle, you coming?" Glenn yelled shifting his weight from one foot to the other "yeah, I'm comin'!" he yelled back "I don't fucking take orders from a China man" he said loudly earning a couple of dirty looks from the others "stupid, fucking china man" he muttered under his breath I cringed at his words and bit my lower lip "he's Korean" I corrected rubbing my temples with my fingers "whatever" Merle responded pushing by me and Daryl.

I watched as Merle snatched a gun from Glenn's hand with not even a thank you "I swear to god, you and Merle need to grow the hell up, I don't want to bail the two of you out of trouble because of your fucking bullshit" I grumbled feeling more than a little irked with Merle and a little with Daryl, walking away from Daryl I headed towards the woods, I whistled to get Daryl's attention and made a motion with my hand to get him to hurry up and follow me"I'm comin'" he murmured waving a hand dismissively and jogged to catch up with me, I laughed at his words and how he sounded just like his brother.

Pushing a low hanging branch out of my way and ducking under another one, quickly stepping over a root of a tree, mine and Daryl's hunting session was about to start, as I let the branch go I heard Daryl groan a little "warn me the next time ya do that" he complained from behind me.

"Don't sing" Daryl whispered to me as he finally caught up with me  
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it" I whispered back  
"Good" he answered back, shrugging his shoulders and pulling the handle of his beloved cross-bow onto his shoulder "'cause we don't-" "want the groups food running away from us, yeah I know" I finished his sentence for him "yeah" Daryl said in a monotone voice, I scrunched my nose up and looked over at Daryl, placing a hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun "I could go back and do something else if you don't want me to help you hunt" Daryl shook his head at my comment and waves it off.

A couple of hours go by and all we got so far from our hunting session are squirrels, a lot of them. It had been pretty quiet between the two of us for a long time, we didn't exactly have a full blown conversation, just the odd "are you okay's" and "do you want to have a break's" and that was pretty much it. It was getting pretty late and the sun light was starting to fade.

"Do you think, that you and Merle would ever let me do something without the two of you?" I asked jumping over a fallen log and pushing a hanging branch up above my head before I smacked my forehead into it "maybe" he replied "would I finally be able to go on a run?" I asked looking out the corner of my eyes at him "maybe" he answered I groaned and hunched over as we carried on walking "I'm getting tired of your one word answers" I pouted.

His fingers brushing against my wrist lightly and he pressed his index finger against his lips to shush me "what?" I breathed out in a hushed tone looking around the surroundings and coming to a full stop "I thought I heard somethin'" he said I made and 'O' shape with my mouth, Daryl took off to the left slowly making sure that he didn't make a sound and I followed after him as quietly the best I could.

Daryl's cross-bow now in his hands the strap tied around his wrist I was a couple of meters behind him when he came to a stop, holding his left hand up for me to stop as well "d'ya see that Kitten?" Daryl whispered "um no" I answered him back in quiet voice "there's a person in my line of sight" I mocked, Daryl beckoned me over to stand next to him, so I did.

Daryl gently took my chin in his hand and turned my head towards a beautiful light brown deer nibbling on a patch of green grass "it's so pretty" I marveled a smile curving on my lips "yeah, it is" Daryl said quietly rolling his shoulders he placed an arrow in the cross-bow, slowly raising it up to and aiming it towards the deer "it'll make a better meal than the squirrels", "mh, I think I could go for something other than squirrel today" I moaned at and my stomach growled.

The deer raised it's head and looked around the surroundings, Daryl grumbled something under his breath and let the arrow go, it went flying through the air the sharp end piercing it's skin, the deer made a sound and ran off, dodging through trees and bushes, hopping over up turned roots and fallen tree trunks Daryl scrambled to put the cross-bow over his shoulder and run after it, me following close behind "Daryl can we go back now?" I called after him "we can find it in the morning" Daryl just shrugged me off and kept on running with me following right behind him.

"Do you at least have a flash light?" I questioned coming to a shop right by him as he skidded "we'll find it" Daryl reassured, blatantly ignoring my words I blinked rapidly raising my hands in the air and taking a step back "if you say so".


	10. Chapter 10

Daryl and I had split up while tracking the deer, the aim was to find it before it wandered into a walker, I stopped and span around on the spot looking at my surroundings, I wouldn't have thought that I'd be in the forest looking for a deer all on my own, with Daryl some where in the woods doing the exact same thing as I am "she'll come hunting with me" I grumbled under my breath and started walking again "she'll be out the camp and she'll be doing something" I said trying my best to impersonate Daryl "yeah I'm doing something" I felt tired and I'm feeling extremely hungry, I found myself hoping that this hunting session better end with something other than squirrels "chasing after a deer" I growled quietly, I placed my hands on the trunk of a fallen tree and pulled myself up onto it, my feet planted firmly on the trunk of the fallen tree and jumped to the floor with a thud.

The leaves flew up around my feet and fell back to the floor "I didn't think this hunting session would last more than a few freaking hours, not the whole day most of the next day" I groaned to myself and continued walking the leaves crunching under my feet I squinted as I saw a brown deer jump over a rock and ran through the trees and bushes in front of me, a smile appeared on my lips as I took off in the same direction all while ducking, dodging, and avoiding branches, up turned roots, bushes and walkers that may or may not be lurking around.

I whipped my head from left to right bouncing up and down on my feet as I looked around the area I was in, a rustling sound coming from my right grabbed my attention "Kat!" Daryl called from behind me his large hand clamping down on my shoulder "Daryl" I breathed out, my chest heaving from all the running I had been doing "I just saw a deer" I stated still breathing heavy, I sucked in a deep breath "yeah, I saw it" Daryl replied quickly "so I decided to follow it" he shrugged his shoulders at me "it wasn't our though" I sighed at his words and clapped my hands against my thighs "hm...that's a real shame" I stated rolling my neck, my breathing finally getting back to normal.

"Yeah, woulda been nice to get two though" he mused running one hand over his light stubble as if he was thinking "yeah, it would have" I agreed Daryl dropped his hand from my shoulder and to his side when two very loud screams coming from our left echoed through out the area "what was that?" I asked slowly, turning my head to look at him "I dunno" he shrugged his shoulders once more "but our deer went that way" he said pointing over to the left where the screaming was coming from "oh, how do you know?" I questioned Daryl rolled his shoulders and gripped a hold of the handle of his beloved cross-bow "there's a trail of blood on the floor, it stopped here for a while" he spoke gently tapping his finger tips against my upper arm "oh" I said silently.

Daryl took off in the direction of the screaming in a run, I shook my head and ran after him, the two of both curious about the screaming and whether or not we'd see the deer, all of a sudden the screaming stopped and all we could hear was hushed talking as we got closer to the where the area it was coming from, Daryl pushed his way through the thick bush, creating a way for me to get through the two of us coming to a stop in front of most of the camp.

Laying on the floor blood pouring from the stump if a neck where it's head used to be, the head a few meters away from the body, the deer laying in front of the decapitated walker, it's insides sprawled out on the now stained grass below them.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it all gnawed on by this...filthy, disease-motherless, poxy bastard" Daryl growled out angrily, kicking the carcass of the walker "your deer?" I asked crossing my arms over my chest, Daryl waves my comment off "calm down, son. That's not helping" Daryl lent down observing the chewed up part of the deer "what do ya know about it, old man? Why don't ya take that stupid hat off and go back to "on golden pond"? we've been trackin' this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do ya think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" Daryl pointed to parts of the deer around the massive cavity.

"Oh come on Daryl!" I cringed scrunching my nose up and slapping his shoulder "I wouldn't risk that" Shane said as if he was reading my thoughts Daryl let out a sigh "that's a damn shame. I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so. That'll have to do" I groaned "I can't eat any more squirrel Daryl" I complained a few people making a sounds of agreement with me, just then the walkers mouth started moving it's teeth clattering together "oh god" Amy breathed out sounding as if she was going to be sick.

"Com'on, people. What the hell?" Daryl snapped at the group, I stood on my tip toes and looked over his shoulder as he removed his cross-bow from his shoulder which it was usually glued too and shot an arrow through the temple of it's head "it's gotta be the brain, don't ya'll know nothin'?" I followed after Daryl as he trudged back to camp, pushing passed everyone "so your deer huh?" I asked Daryl shot me a smile "sorry, got a bit carried away" my eyebrows shot up "you always do" I quipped cheekily, a slight smile appearing on my lips "hey" he laughed nudging my arm with his "just saying the truth" I responded, walking a head of him quickly dodging a few people who stayed at the camp instead of investigating the screaming.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out 'ere! I got some squirrel, lets stew 'em up" I heard Daryl called from behind me, no doubt he's probably by the camp fire, I heard Shane something to him as I pushed the flaps of the tent open "hey, Merle!" I said cheerfully with a massive smile on my face finally glad to see Merle again, ducking into the tent, my smile faded as I saw that Merle's side of the tent was empty without him sat there or lead on the floor talking to himself or more like complaining to himself.

"Merle?" I asked almost quietly spinning around he messy tent, images of Merle leaving us or even being turned into a walker flashed across my memory "M-Merle?" I stuttered out the question quietly and backed out of the tent I shared with the Dixon brothers, my hands were now shaking and I felt like crying "Merle!" I screamed spinning around on my feet to face the camp, hoping he was out there with the others and I didn't notice him that was when I saw Shane letting go of Daryl "I'm not the one you have to worry about, Rick Grimes" Daryl said getting up in his face a questioning look flashed across his face.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS MERLE!?" I hollered as I came to a stop pushing by Daryl, Shane shushed me and I held my middle finger up at him"I handcuffed him-" I frowned at Rick- as Daryl had called him- and raised my hand slapping him around the face so hard my hand was stinging, Ricks head snapped around and a red hand print shone perfectly on his cheek "YOU SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!" I yelled my hands were shaking more "hey, whoa" Shane said, grabbing my arm, I span around and yanked my arm from his grip and punched him as hard as I could in the chest, making his double over and rub the spot I punched "THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE LEFT OUR BROTHER OUT THERE, TO BE EATEN BY WALKERS!" Daryl chucked crossing his arms over his chest a kind of proud smirk finding its way onto his face.

"He isn't your brother though" Glenn pointed out, which earned him a slap around the head from me and a hard glare, Glenn cleared his throat and looked down at the floor "sorry" he apologised, all the while not looking up at me "Katherine, calm down we don't want to attract any more walkers" Lori said in a clam voice "oh screw off" I snapped back at her, Lori blinked at me in surprise since I've never talked to her like that before.

"Katherine, Daryl" T-Dog spoke up, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder my breathing became heavier "you two should know that it's not Rick's fault. I had the key. I dropped it" "you couldn't pick it up?" me and Daryl said in unison, both of us pulsing with anger "well" T-Dog started looking between the two of us nervously "I dropped it in a drain".

"If it's suppose to make us feel better, it don't" Daryl spoke for the two of us.  
"Well, maybe this will. Look I chained the door to the roof...so the geeks couldn't get to him...with a padlock, that's gotta count for something" T-Dog tried to reassure us, I shook my head at him and zoned out for a while, my mind running wild with so many possibilities, sadness, worry, anxiety and fear bubbled and clawed at my insides making me feel a little nauseous.

I must have been stood there for a while because the sound of a horn blaring and Daryl screaming for people to hurry up made me jump and jolt out of my thoughts, I walked to the truck before they could leave and glared at Rick.

"You better bring Merle back" I warned Rick gave me a nod of his head and I backed away from the truck "I mean it" Rick just looked at me before getting into the can "be good, Kat" Daryl said to me, I just flashed him a thin lipped smile and gave him a nod of my head "stay safe" I replied, Daryl as usual replied with a smart-as comment "I always am", with that Daryl shut the door and the truck sped off.


	11. Chapter 11

I paced around the camp my arms crossed over my stomach, my face a permanent scowl Shane had told everyone to leave me alone so that I could cool off and calm down, but as the seconds ticked away I just got more and more irritated every sound and every word was etching away the more I thought about Merle being locked on the roof top with only a chain protecting him from the flesh hungry walkers.

"They're going to find him" Dale said to me from beside me "I hope so" I admitted rubbing my temples to try and fight away the rising head ache that was threatening to hammer away at me "have faith" Dale chuckled and I looked up at him "oh I have faith..." I paused chewing the skin on my bottom lip, my lip lower lip bleeding from me chewing on the skin "in Daryl, more than anyone else" Dale laughed and turned around so that he was looking else where "they'll bring him back" he reassured me, although he trailed off before he could finish his sentence.

"Everything alright, Dale?" I asked him putting my hand to my forehead so that I was shielding my eyes from the sun to look at him properly, he gave me a quick nod of his head.

"Yeah" he answered and quickly started to climb from the camper "Dale?" I asked catching up up to him "Jim has been working on whatever he's doing for a while now" Dale mentioned as I stepped in time with him "right?" I trailed off "he's been digging holes" I looked at Dale "maybe he's just doing it because Shane asked him too?" Dale shook his head at me, the two of us continued walking to the bushes that Dale had seen Jim working at.

"Shane hasn't asked him to do anything today" he answered.  
"I'm sure there's a reason."  
"There always is" Dale responded.

The two of us stopped just behind Jim, the area we're in had piles of dirt dotted all over the place, Jim had started digging another hole a fresh pile of dirt beside him "Jim?" Dale asked shifting is weight from one foot to the other "You okay? You keep this up, you're gonna kneel over. Drink some water at least" Jim just ignored Dales words and kept on digging the hole "Jim?" I asked me and Dale both exchanging a look "I'll go and get Shane" he whispered to me before he walked off towards camp, I turned around "but, wait! what do you want me to do?" I called after him, Dale shrugged his shoulders "keep an eye on him" he suggested, I nodded my head firmly and turned around to face Jim, who was still working really hard on the hole "right" I mumbled clapping my hands together "I can do that".

I sat on the floor with my legs crossed and my elbows placed on my knees, my chin in my hands I watched Jim continue to work away I sighed as he yet again he didn't answer any of my questions "and as usual, Jim" I paused for a moment and scratching the top of my head, my hair feeling really warm against my finger tips from the sun beating down on us "it's been good talking to you" I said to him sarcastically a heavy hand dropped down and squeezed my shoulder, I looked up and followed the arm to see who it belonged too and saw Shane walk by me, is hand moving from my shoulder and fell back to his side, I looked around and saw that everyone else from the camp has joined him and gathered around me.

"Hey, Jim" Shane started licking his lips "Jim, why don't you hold up, alright? Just give me a second here, please" I stood up and crossed my arms "he's not goin-" "What do you want?" Jim shot back, cutting me off before I could finish off my sentence, Jim looked towards Shane and then to the group of us behind him "we're all just a little concerned, that's all" Shane answered running a hand along his jaw, Jim didn't reply.

"Dale says you've been out here for hours" Morales said, Jim scrunched his nose up "so?" was all he said, I rolled my eyes and tapped my foot against the floor impatiently, granted this did take my mind off of Merle being missing and Daryl being out there trying to find him.

"So why are you digging? Are you heading to China, Jim?" Shane asked, raising an eyebrow at Jim  
"What does it matter? I'm not hurting anyone" Jim responded  
"Yeah, except maybe yourself. It's a hundred degrees today. you can't keep this up" Shane spoke, his hands going to his hips

Jim shrugged his shoulders and continued digging "sure I can, watch me" Lori coughed before speaking up "Jim, they'e not saying it so I will" she started her hand finding Carl's hair "you're scaring people, you're scaring my son and Carol's daughter" I rolled my eyes at her it's not like Jim is going to listen to anyone, it would be easier if someone just took the shovel from him and made him have a break.

"Just take the shovel away from him, put him in some shade and give him some water and food" I suggested everyone seemingly ignoring my words, my eyebrows knitted together as I looked around at the crowd of people watching Shane's and Jim's exchanged "anyone?" I asked and still no reply I snorted and threw my hands in the air mumbling under my breathe "whatever" I turned and pushed my way through the mass of people, some of them letting out small sounds of annoyance, I slowly made my way to the camp.

* * *

It had been a while since I had been out of the tent, I just sat there staring at one of the sides until I fell asleep "Katherine" someone said, pushing my arm to wake me up, I groaned and turned away from the person a small chuckle could be heard "Katherine, wake up" another person said I groaned once more and opened my eyes, turning to face Carl and Sophia "what time is it?" I asked groggily "it's late" they both said at the same time "we've got dinner ready, Shane didn't want us to wake you up, but we thought you'd be hungry" Carl said sweetly "thanks" I mumbled rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

Pushing myself off of the floor and stretching my back I followed Carl and Sophia to the camp fire where most of the camp was, a man handed me a bowl of fish which I just turned my nose up at and pushed back into his hands before I sat down on the floor, a woman passing me a cup full of cool water "thanks" I said to her, looking around the camp fire at everyone's happy faces.

"I've got ask, man. It's been driving me crazy" Morales said to Dale who looked at him expectantly "what?" he questioned looking down at his watch "that watch" Morales pointed out "what's wrong with my watch?" Dale asked looking between "I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass" "I've wondered this myself" Jacqui commented "yeah" I said after swallowing my mouthful of water.

"I'm missing the point" Dale replies to us, waving his hand around a little bit before resting his head on his hand again "unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to and end. At least hit a speed bump for a good long while" Jacqui responded, Dale had started off a longish rant that I tuned out at and sipped on the water in the cup that was in my hands.

My thoughts was filled with Daryl finding Merle a walker, or missing or dead. Along with the fact that maybe Daryl wont come back and I'll be all alone, I was jolted out of my terrible thoughts when I heard everyone laugh.

"It's not me, it's Faulkner, William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing" he shrugged, Amy had gotten up and turned away from the camp fire, Andrea took a hold of her arm "where are you going?" she asked her younger sister Amy hesitated for a minute looking around the camp fire "I have to pee, jeez you try to be discreet around here" I snorted out a small a laugh "you don't want anything to eat?" Lori asked cautiously, since I snapped at her she's been a bit weary towards me "no, I'll have some thing when Daryl and Merle are back" I answered Lori offered me a smile to which I flashed her a small smile of my own.

Amy had just stepped outside of the camper when there we all heard her scream, Andrea was the first person to turn around and see her sister get bitten a loud scream ripping through her, me and the others around the camp fire jumped up and scattered around the camp as several more walkers joined it.

"Everyone grab something" Morales yelled to us, as the walkers shambled towards us, the stench of rotten flesh seemed to get stuck in my nostrils and in my throat, a few people screaming which drew even more attention to us, the walkers swiped their hands out in front of us, their mouths opening and closing mechanically, I side stepped a walker that had managed to reach me while I was frozen watching their every move.

Shane had grabbed a shot gun and started to fire it off at the walkers, Lori and Carl staying close to Shane the best they could. Shane had started to bark out orders at people, but most of us was too busy to even acknowledge what he was saying.

Quickly I pulled my knife from it's place and stepped back from an on coming walker, who's jaw was only hanging on from one side of it's face, I reached a hand out and grabbed a hold of the walkers neck I tipped the blade upwards and shoved the blade through the jaw of the walker, it's mouth opened and closed the best it could with my knife nearly touching the roof of it's decaying mouth and from the fact that it was barely hanging on, so it's lower jaw was just flopping about "just fucking die" I grunted as I pushed the blade upwards through it's jaw, through the bone and finally hitting the brain, I yanked the blade from the limp walker.

The walkers jaw ripped away from the last bit of skin and bone it was clinging too and the jaw dropped to the floor as well as the walkers body that landed on the grass floor with a thud "Katherine, behind you" Shane yelled at me I span around coming face to rotten face with a walker with only one arm, it's hand wrapped around my arm and it tried to pull my arm towards it's mouth that was a gap, bloody gurgles emitted from it's throat.

I pulled my arm back and stumbled backwards, my feet hitting the dead walker behind me and fell to the floor the walker took a step closer to me, the walker got down onto it's knees and grabbed a hold of my leg, where it began to pull me closer to it, it's mouth a few meters away from my leg, I screamed and kicked my foot it's head, the walker jolted back, it's hand moving down my leg so that it's hand is now wrapped around my ankle, I pulled my leg back which made the walker lose it's balance and fall on top of me, my hands instantly went to it's shoulders and I started to push so that it's head was as far away from me as much as possible.

The walkers mouth snapped closed, it's top teeth clattering against it's lower teeth, growls, moans and gurgles made my skin crawl I moved my right hand so that my elbow was boring into it's rotten skin I slowly moved the knife around in my hand so that I could make it easier for me to kill it.

Just as I was about to thrust the knife through the walkers temple, an arrow exploded through the back of the walkers head and came right through the front of it's head, the tip of the arrow narrowly missing my nose, blood splattered all over my face and into my mouth I groaned and pushed the walker to the floor, rolling onto my front, I knelt down on all fours, coughing and spitting up all of the blood that went into my mouth, my bloody hair fell over my shoulders, wiping across my face.

"Kat?" Daryl called a hint of worry in his voice form some where behind me "Kat?!" he yelled worriedly I pushed myself up from the floor and slowly turned around, wiping the blood from my face "Daryl" I breathed out, my heart feeling as if it was going to beat out of my chest, Daryl's shoulder relaxed and he let out a sigh "thank god" I dropped my knife to the floor and ran up to him, pushing Glenn and Rick out the way so I could get to Daryl.

I jumped Daryl wrapping my arms around his neck, Daryl staggered back but he dropped his cross-bow to the floor and wrapped his arms around my body, pulling me closer to him "your back" I whined, squeezing my eyes shut and tightening my grip around his neck "I'll always come back" Daryl responded in a soothing voice, moving a hand from my back and up to the back of my head, his fingers getting tangles into my knotty hair, his thumb gently rubbing the back of my head "where's Merle?" I asked him pulling away from the hug my eyes snapping open.

"He wasn't there, the only thing we found was his hand" Daryl answered, I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded my head firmly "he's tough" I commented " he'll be fine" Daryl chuckled at my words "yeah, no one can kill Merle, except Merle" he stated "yeah" I trailed off as I looked around the camp site, there were dead walkers and people who would turn in a few hours laying on the floor.

"I remember my dream now" Jim said "why I dug the holes" he continued as his gaze swept over the floor around us.


	12. Chapter 12

AN; The sentences in italics re for flashbacks or dreams

* * *

I had helped Daryl and a few other people to move a couple of the walker bodies to the massive fire that was burning and crackling away, my mind however was else where; to Merle and where he was, what he's doing at this very moment and if he needs help "hey" Daryl said softly coming to a stop next to me, his knuckles gently brushing against my arm "you 'kay?" he asked giving me a look of concern to which I just gave a quick nod and the best smile I could in response and he just stood there, giving me a 'I don't believe that' kind of look, my shoulders slumped and gave him a small sheepish look back "I'm just thinking of Merle and where he'd be now...if he needs help or if he's even looking for us".

"Merle's gon' be fine" Daryl said a tiny smile playing on his lips, giving me a quick shrug of his shoulders as he gently wrapped his hand around my elbow "'an course he's lookin' for us" he reassured me giving my elbow a gentle squeeze before dropping his hand to his side "he ain't gon' leave us 'ere, not with all these people, he don't trust 'em enough to let 'em look after you" he said to me in what sounded like a joking tone of voice but I knew he was serious, Daryl walked away to carry off yet another walkers body to the fire, while the others buried the bodies of people from our group that had died.

I ran a hand through my hair to get the tangles out and yawned, having not gotten much sleep from staying up all night just in case some more walkers came by even though Daryl assured me that he'd be awake most of the night and that he'd let nothing hurt me, I still felt a bit wary to sleep.

"Are you bleeding?" Jacqui asked someone, the words jolting me out of my own little world, in turn causing me to lose the train of thought that I had, I span quickly around on the balls of my feet to see who she was talking too and to my surprise it was Jim, who had started to argue with Jacqui about whether or not it was actually a bite that he received during the fight last night, I took a step towards the two of them "then show me" Jacqui stated reaching a hand out for him to lit a bit of his shirt up that had what looked like fresh blood seeping into the fabric.

"Yeah, show us Jim" I said to him an eyebrow raised and my arms crossed over my stomach a look of 'well?' crossing my face, Jim looked between the two of us and he let out a long heavy sigh"don't tell, please" he pleaded.

Before I could reassure him that everything is fine and no one would do anything to hurt him and that we will all listen to what he has to say, Jacqui goes and calls out to the group, making everyone stop what they are doing and gather around the three of us, all of them trying to get a look "a walker go him. A walker bit Jim" I shot her a pointed look "that was uncalled for" I said to her "they need to know" she shot back I just rolled my eyes at her.

"Informing everyone the way that you just did would just make everyone in the group panic" Jacqui looked to me and eyed me, her top right corner of her lip curled up a little bit , tipping her head to the side "everyone is handling it pretty fine to me" I made a small incoherent noise and rolled my eyes, some times when people don't listen it really annoys me "they'll freak out once he shows them the bite he has, Jacqui" I stated and Jacqui rolled her shoulders a little bit "I'm just looking out for the group, you know the people that took you and the irritating, antisocial and racist Dixon brothers in".

I puffed a bit of air out of my nose and made a small whistling noise and Daryl stopped beside me "show it to us. Show it to us" Daryl demanded gripping the pick axe in his hands tightly "easy, Jim" Shane said as calmly as he could "grab 'im" Daryl yelled to the group which made Jim quickly picked up a shovel off of the floor and held it tightly and raised the shovel in the air a bit, a few people yelling about someone needing to grab a hold of Jim, T-dog dropped what he as doing, taking Jim the by arms in turn making him drop the shovel, Daryl quickly walked over and pulled Jim's dirty shirt up revealing the deep bloody bite mark on his stomach.

T-dog pushed Jim away from himself and Daryl backed away a look of disgust crossing his face, he held a hand out and turned his head to look at me quickly for a moment "stay back, Kat" I just gave Daryl a nod of my head even though he wasn't wasn't looking, Jim just kept repeating "I'm okay" to all of us no one in the group said anything, they just looked around at each other, their faces unable to convey how they all felt but guilt and sadness was the two most prominent emotions crossing their faces, of course neither of us believed that Jim was going to be okay, he wasn't going to be himself ever again.

Everyone had gathered together a little away from Jim and had started to talk about how they should all handle it "Jim" I started taking a small step forwards to which he took one step back and I took another step towards him "Jim, maybe we can do something about it" I told him carefully picking my words "you mean kill me?" Jim stated throwing a hand out to the group of people talking a few centimeters away from us "no, I mean there might actually be away to stop you from changing into a walker" I told him with a lop sided smile and Jim just shook his head.

"It's inevitable" he sighed out a small shaky breath, placing a hand over the bite carefully "I'd run if you were you, Katherine" he said pointing his long index finger at me and gave me a quick nod of his head "being on your own" he started looking me in the eyes "it would help you survive longer than you would in a group" he warned me I nodded a little bit, brushing a bit of my hair behind my ear "I'll...I'll keep that in mind, Jim" I replied quietly he just gave me another firm nod of his head before he turned away from me, I sighed placing my left hand on my hip, raising my left hand and rubbed my nails over my forehead carefully before turning to the group that had now started to split up, Daryl walking over to me he raised a hand and made a small motion.

I rolled my eyes "what?" I asked him as slowly made my way over "you 'kay?" He asked me for the second time that day "I'm fine" I replied with a shrug of my shoulders, Daryl shot me a smile and the two of us continued what we were doing, puling the dead bodies of the people that was in our group to one side while the bodies of the walkers were thrown into the still burning fire. I sat down on the floor on a clean patch of grass after I had finished moving the rest of the bodies, watching as Daryl went to put the tip of the pick axe into Ed's head before Carole told him she could do it, everything was quiet aside from the talking of the remaining people in the group and the odd sound of a few animals, everything was a little bit calm and yet I some how feel like the storm had only just started and the things that had happened last night was only just a drizzle of rain compared to what's to come, compared to what's laying wait out beyond the quarry for us all.

I jumped and looked over my shoulder at the loud gun shot that seemed to have rattled a few people who also seemed to have been in their own world, my eyes landed up on Andrea who still had the point of the gun at her sisters head, I closed my eyes and turned my head away, placing a hand over my eyes images flashing across her mind;

 _I had pressed my hands to my ears and started to hum blocking out all sound so I could't hear anything and when_ _I had opened the door of the bathroom after an hour or maybe it was more than an hour, it definitely felt like had it been more than hour, once my dad had stopped banging on the door for me to leave the bathroom, I looked around at the room, drops of blood had dotted the once creamy white carpet, Louise had pressed a finger to her lips, shaking her head at me and darting her eyes over to my dad who was stood still, his shoulders hunched a little tiny bit and a few groans could be heard as well as him twitching a little bit, I held the door open wide for her, ushering her to come to me, which she did as quickly as possible._

 _I closed the door gently and locked it, Louise carefully sat on the side of the bath, blood covered her forearm "what happened?" I whispered to her quickly pulling a perfectly white towel from the silver loop that was holding it to the white and lovely blue tiled wall of the bathroom, I leaned over the bath and turned the water on dampening the towel before turning the water off and taking her arm into my hand "dad just bit us...all three of us" she mumbled in response, her skin felt warm to the touch, sweat beads fell down her forehead "dad bit you?" I whisper yelled at my younger sister who cringed a little bit "dad's not himself, Katherine" she whispered a small frown etched onto her face, I swallowed hard slowly wiping the blood from her arm and pushed her bloody purple sleeve up revealing the bite mark that she said she had gotten from dad._

 _"What do you mean dad's not himself?" I asked her, pressing gently on the bit making Louise hiss from the pain "his eyes have become white and glassy... he looked as if he was having a seizure" she shrugged a little bit "he wouldn't respond when me and mum yelled at him to stop biting Darren...who managed to run into the closet but dad turned on me and mum...mum also went to the closet with Darren" she murmured placing her free hand over her mouth and coughing into it I didn't say anything but dropped the crimson red towel into the bath, some of the blood splattered against the whiteness of the bath, forming droplets of blood that slipped down the side of the bath and down the drain._

 _"Lay down and get some rest, you're safe in here" I said to her, giving Louise a soft smile as I ran my hand through her short hair softly and gently, she nodded a little bit and slipped into the bath carefully, her eyes on me as I went to the door "where are you going, Kath?" she asked almost quietly fear dripping from her words "into the room" I nodded to the door, my hand already on the lock "stay, please? I don't want dad hurting you too" I gave her a sweet smile "I'll be back quickly" I said to her slowly unlocking the door, the small clicking sound made me cringe._

 _"Okay" she said before laying down in the bath, her eyes no longer on me I let out a small puff of air and pulled the door open, quietly stepping out into the quiet room I slowly shuffled across he floor to where I had left the hunting knife laying on the floor of where I had been sitting just hours ago I got onto my hands and knees crawling along the floor so I didn't make too much noise and picked up the hunting knife and crawled back to the bathroom as quickly as I could, stopping in my tracks as a loud banging noise came from the closet in the room and then that one banging noise was followed by a couple more loud bangs, my heart skipped a few beats and quickened it's pace, I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran to the bathroom, I pushed the door shut once in there and locked it behind myself, pressing my back to the door "Louise? Are you okay?" I asked as I took a few deep breathes and exhaled._

 _All I got in response to the question was a small groan "okay...good" I muttered and slid to the cold floor of the bathroom placing my hands to the white tiled floor I pressed the back of my head against the wooden door hearing my dad let out a disgruntled groan from the other side of the door my breathing hitched a little and I once again pressed my hands to my ears trying to block the noises out, keeping my eyes on the bath in front of me, Louise put a shaky hand over the side and another groan emitted from her throat "Louise?" I asked carefully removing my hands from my ears I slowly stood up placing my left hand on the door "Louise? Everything okay?" I asked her once again all I received was another groan._

 _The pit in my stomach felt as if it was going to swallow me whole "Louise?" I croaked out taking a cautious step towards the bath, her fingers curled around the lip of the bath, her other hand went to the side, curling her fingers around it she slowly pulled herself up, her jaws opened and snapped shut, her teeth clattering together as she did so, her eyes a glassy white and all that came from her was groans and gurgles "L-Louise?" I stuttered as I remember the guy I had just killed a few moments before, who was still laying in his place on the floor in a pool of blood, Louise whipped a hand out her fingers brushing against my shirt and curled a little bit, she didn't seem like herself anymore and I was at loss on how I even begin to understand what's happening right now._

 _I took another step forwards and took Louise's hand in my free hand gripping the hunting knife in my hand tightly, she quickly shot her other hand out and grabbed a hand full of my hair slowly pulling me towards her "I-I'm sorry" I mumbled out to her, the feeling that killing her might be the right move to make, although it may not feel so great after doing it, tears slipped down my cheeks and let out a really shaky breath, I brought my right up and brushed a strand of hair from her face with the blade of the knife "I'm so sorry" I said to her softly as I pressed the tip of the knife to her forehead blood slowly dripped down her forehead, her nose, cheek and her chin before finally dropping to the bath._

 _I hesitated for a moment before pressing harder, Louise or well the shell of Louise held onto my hair tightly as she slowly brought herself out of the bath a bit more making me stumble back the best I could her jaws snapped open and closed as she tried to bite me, the blood dripped along the white floor of the bath room and I just plunged the knife into her forehead deeply, she had let out a loud shriek which had as I suspected by the bangs at the bathroom door alerted my dad to where I was, the blood gushed out of the wound on both sides of the head, the floor quickly filling with the blood, I looked around the room for some what to stop the bleeding but I couldn't find anything, aside from the other white towels on the other silver rings attached to the bathroom walls, I licked my lips as I turned my attention back to the heavy dead weight of my little sister on the other end of the knife._

 _Slowly I pushed her back into the bath and ripped the knife from her skull, dropping to the floor and I quickly made it so that Louise was laying down in the bath, curled up on her side as the blood dripped down her face and onto the bath beneath her "I'm sorry, Lo" I said to her, sitting on the side of the bath I slowly ran a shaking hand through her wet, sticky hair "I'm so sorry, please forgive me" I muttered, my whole body felt numb to the core, my head felt as if it was spinning and light headed._

"Kat?" Daryl asked a heavy hand landing on my top of my head "hm?" I replied opening my eyes and looked up at him "you 'kay?" He asked that was the third time today he asked if I was okay and honestly at right now I wasn't feeling so good "you 'kay?" He asked again. Four. I mentally said to myself before giving Daryl the nest smile I could "I'm fine" I told him reaching up and slapping his hand away from my head Daryl chuckled a little bit "alright" he smiled to me, I just nodded my head a tiny bit and scratched the top of my head.

"You've been out of it for a lil while, we decided to let ya be, an' well we've all been told we're leavin' this place" Daryl said to me "leaving? What about Merle?" I asked him getting up from the floor "we'll find away to tell 'im where we are" Daryl replied and shrugged his shoulders "okay.." I trialed off and went to quickly pack our stuff away with the help of Daryl of course I can't exactly wrestle the tent all by myself.

"Ya sure you're 'kay?" Daryl asked me as we packed our things up "yeah, of course I am" I replied giving him a smile to which he grunted obviously he wasn't buying it but decided not push me any further "just makin' sure" he mumbled quietly.

* * *

We had been on the road for a little and well we left Jim, he asked and well no one seemed to argue with it so we just left him and went on our way once more I hadn't been paying too much attention, just sitting quietly as I tried not to think about what he told me, that I might be better off on my own that I wont die as easily if I wasn't with them and to be honest I can see why he'd think that, but without people being around us we'd just end up losing our minds or we'd probably end up in worse trouble that only you can't get yourself out of.

I was soon brought back to reality when the RV stopped out side of some kind of compound, everyone else was getting out of their vehicles, Daryl and I got off of his motorbike and joined them, I kept my bag with me and looked over at Daryl as the two of us followed the group or more like Rick to the compound, the ground outside was littered with bodies and empty trucks everyone walked as quietly as they could, the compound was locked and shuttered.

"Nothing?" Shane asked everyone and pounded his fist on the door "there's nobody here" T-Dog spoke rubbing the back of his neck "then why are the shutters down?" Rick asked, Daryl quickly pushed me behind himself, getting his cross bow ready "walkers!" he exclaimed to the group, Lori pulling Carl closer to herself "you lead us into a graveyard" Daryl yelled as he shot a walker "he made a call" Shane shot back "it was the wrong call" Daryl and I snapped at Shane, I quickly got my hunting knife out ready in case there was any kind of fight that broke out.

Shane had told Rick something and before I know there was a full blown panic spreading between everyone as they talked about the options quickly as Daryl kept the walkers at bay, the sound of Rick slamming his hands into the shutters made me jump and Rick yelling loudly making more walkers shamble our way "someone shut him up" I hissed out to someone well really anyone so they could make him stop, we'd all be dead in a few seconds if any more walkers show up and have us out numbered.

"Please help us. You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!" Rick yelled to the camera, I huffed a little bit and felt someone bump into me, turning my head I see a few of the group moving away from the compound, Rick and Shane doing so too "Daryl" I said grabbing his arm tightly and pulling him with me a little bit, the sound of the shutters rolling up grabbed all of our attention making us all stop.

* * *

AN; Sorry I took so long to update, I've been really busy.  
Also I'm working on a From Dusk till Dawn; Tv series fanfic which I have been working on when I get the time and will be up once I finished this fic, I know when and how I'm finishing this one.


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